The Letting Centre

Weekly or monthly

Question: 339
We normally specify the rent within our tenancy agreement as a 'per week' rent but, following problems with a recent tenant vacating at short notice, we have been advised that we should be using monthly tenancies where the rent is specified and payable every month. What difference can this possibly make?
Answer:
The problem with tenancies where the rent is specified as a weekly amount, is that, in the absence of any other indications, it will be assumed to operate as a weekly tenancy once the fixed term comes to an end. This means that, if the tenant extends his tenancy after the fixed term, and it becomes a statutory periodic tenancy, then the tenancy will simply run from week to week. With such a tenancy, the tenant is merely obliged to give a week's notice ending at the end of a rental period if s/he wishes to give notice. By comparison, a tenant with a monthly tenancy is obliged to give his landlord a month's notice ending at the end of a rental period (which could translate into anything between one and two months' notice at any given moment in time). This gives better protection for the landlord, and more chance to find that replacement tenant as soon as the original tenant has left.
References:	Pages:	Hyperlinks:
Letting Handbook	Chapter 10	letting-handbook-and-factsheets.html

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